Read an Excerpt

MAGIC BONE

GO FETCH!

MAGIC BONE

GO FETCH!

For Ian, my DC connection!—NK

For Graham—SB

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

“Throw the ball, Josh!” I bark. “Throw the ball!”

My two-leg, Josh, is holding a ball in his paw. He looks straight ahead and gets ready to throw.

My tail is wagging back and forth. It loves playing fetch.

My paws are bouncing up and down. They love playing fetch, too.

“Throw the ball!” I bark. “Throw the ball.”

Josh doesn’t speak dog. But I think he knows what I’m saying because he throws the ball.

“I got it! I got it!” I bark excitedly.

My paws run after the ball. Fast. Faster. Fastest.

Fur flies into my eyes. It’s hard for me to see. But my paws keep running. Fast. Faster . . .

Crash! Ouch! I bang right into the tree in my yard. Stupid tree. Stupid fur in my eyes.

I look up and see a girl two-leg. She’s standing by my tree holding the ball in her paw. My ball. Who is this two-leg? And why did she catch my ball?

Now she’s throwing my ball in the air.

Yay! The girl two-leg wants to play!

“I got it! I got it!” I bark.

My paws bounce up high in the air. My mouth opens wide. “I got it!” I bark again.

Chomp! I grab the ball in my mouth. I run over to Josh and drop it at his feet.

Josh picks up the ball. He shakes his head and says, “No, Sparky. No!”

Sparky, no? I’ve heard those words before. But usually it’s when I grab some food from the table. Or drink from the big white water bowl Josh uses when he has to make a yellow puddle.

Josh never tells me no when we’re playing fetch. Until now.

Josh throws the ball to the girl two-leg. She fetches it and throws the ball back to him. No one is letting me fetch the ball.

No fair!

I watch as the ball goes back and forth between Josh and the two-leg girl.

Finally, Josh drops the ball on the ground. My tail picks up. My ears stop drooping. My paws start boinging.

Anything on the ground is mine! That’s the rule.

Wiggle, waggle, woo-hoo! It’s my turn to play with Josh!

I fetch the ball and start to run. But before I can reach him, Josh and the girl leave the yard. Then I hear a loud noise. It’s Josh’s big metal machine with four round paws.

The machine sounds like it’s going away. But, that’s okay. I can play fetch by myself.

I spit the ball out of my mouth. It doesn’t go very far. This game of fetch isn’t any fun.

What now? I know! I race over to Josh’s flower bed and start diggety, dig, digging. Diggety, dig, dig. Diggety, dig . . . WOW!

It’s a bone. A bright, beautiful, sparkly bone.

Sniff, sniff, sniff. It smells so good. Like chicken, beef, and sausage all rolled into one.

“Hello, bone!” I bark excitedly.

The bone doesn’t bark back. Bones don’t bark.

This bone smells so meaty. I just have to take a bite . . .

Chomp!

Wiggle, waggle, whew. I feel dizzy—like my insides are spinning all around—but my outsides are standing still. Stars are twinkling in front of my eyes—even though it’s daytime! All around me I smell food—fried chicken, salmon, roast beef. But there isn’t any food in sight.

Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!

CHAPTER 2

The kabooming stops.